ARJ Pages

Sunday, February 17, 2013

British Royal Jewels: Countess of Wessex's Mystery Necklace

The last of our five necklaces offers a delicious (and unsolved) mystery.

The mystery diamond necklace worn by the Countess of Wessex for the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria

The Earl and Countess of Wessex are the Queen’s regular ambassadors for foreign royal events and the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Daniel Westling was no exception to that rule. At first glance, the Countess’s choice of jewellery was fairly conservative and uninteresting. Sophie’s tiara was her wedding one (which personally I abhor), and she appeared to be wearing one of the Queen’s necklaces. Only she wasn't. At least, not a necklace Her Majesty has ever been seen wearing before.

The base of Sophie’s necklace resembles that of the King Fahd one, the general design (alternative long and shorter fringes) reminds of King Khalid Necklace, while the style of the diamonds is not unlike the Even Fringe Necklace. And yet it’s none of them. And to top it all, Sophie was also wearing a mystery pair of earrings which compliment the style of the necklace.

The Countess of Wessex at the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria, wearing her Wedding Tiara, mystery diamond necklace and earrings.

The Countess of Wessex’s necklace consists of a base of brilliants with long and short fringes suspended from it. The longer fringes consist of four rows; the first three rows are made of a brilliant flanked by two baguettes, while the last row consists of a single pear-shape diamond. The shorter fringes have four rows two; the first and last ones are pear-shape diamonds, with four smaller diamonds in a flower arrangement in between.

I have absolutely no idea about the provenance of this necklace or demi-parure (assuming the earrings and bracelet she was wearing are part of the set too), and to the best of my knowledge, no one has been able to solve this riddle.

The never-before seen earrings

It reminds the King Fahd Necklace most so it may be of Saudi origin as well. It might have been a gift to the Countess personally, or the set might have been a loan from the Queen. It remains to be seen who wears the necklace next although we might never know for sure its origin.